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Review: Consider MIB2 Neuralized (Men In Black 3)

Not much has changed in the Men In Black fraternity. K is crotchety, J is busting balls and finding that his knowledge of this universe is infinitesimally small. What makes this sequel different is that K hasn't quite manned up about everything the job requires. There are further secrets of the universe and apparently quite a few of them involve time travel.

Boris (Jemaine Clement) has a vendetta against K, a bone to pick so to say. He was this close to destroying the Earth in 1969 and now he's out of prison. While he's on his way to bringing about the destruction of the third rock from the sun, he wants to make K's life a little more inconvenient. And what better way to inconvenience someone than by killing them back in time? Facing the extinction of the human race and a nineteen hour deadline, Agent J has to save K and the world.

Which brings me the shining portion of the third MIB: Josh Brolin. The repartee between Smith and Jones has gotten a little stale during the previous two installations of the MIB franchise, so infusing the film with a sense of cock-eyed craziness was just what MIB3 needed. Brolin has worked with Jones on No Country for Old Men and In the Valley of Elah, so his younger incarnation of K is less a pale imitation than an embodiment of a persona. Few men can match the Texan gravitas of an actor like Tommy Lee Jones, but Brolin does it with flair.

Men In Black 3 also marks Will Smith's return to the bigscreen in four years. His presence has been sorely missed. Summer blockbusters as of late have had a dearth of charismatic leading men and there is none more charismatic than Mr. Smith. To the pleasant surprise of the audience, the film's success is not entirely dependent upon Smith's charisma. The plot offers enough fun to make this a viable alternative to watching The Avengers for a fourth week in a row.

It's not a completely original film, but it's enough to pass an afternoon. Where Men In Black 2 faltered in its rigidness to recreating the original formula, 3 veers off the beaten path. The main premise is not introducing a rookie to the black suit fraternity, or bringing back a veteran with a wiped memory, this is a hero's mission plain and simple. In a world of revisiting favorite characters and global drama, Men In Black 3 fits like a glove.

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